in today's "closing bell" exchange by hank smith and steve from comcast funds and our own rick santelli. >> hello. >> good to see you guys. >> thank you so much for joining us. >> hank smith, we haven't heard from you in a while. let me kick this off with you. how are you investing going into all of these earnings coming out from the banks this week as ahead of that debt ceiling debate? >> sure, maria. our equity portfolios are fully invested. we see no reason 2013 can't deliver very similar returns as 2012 did. the fact is we still have a good fundamental backdrop. the economy is expanding. it's not contracting or growing. value sheets are strong and valuations are very attractive so what is there not to like? >> you're our resident skeptic today, and i would point not to the normal averages that we quote every day, but look at the dow transportation average which could close at an all-time high today. the transportation companies, often a leading indicator for the economy. if they are doing well. chances are the economy is going to get better. wouldn't that make you want to buy stocks

, including our own rick santelli and steve liesman. it's all about the fiscal cliff in that report, isn't it? >> taken by itself not a bad report, moderate to modest growth, real estate not doing too badly. all the comments, i didn't finish counting them up, but the word fiscal and uncertainty both appear several times in the beige book, and the clear impression, bill, is that uncertainty over the fiscal situation is already hurting the economy, delaying hiring plans, capital investment plans and really everything from auto dealers in cleveland to farmers down in texas have cited the fiscal cliff as a major concern. that's something that's influencing their decision making right now. >> you would expect that given the fact that everybody is in lockdown mode as we wait to figure out what our tax rates are going to be, where the spending cuts are going to be, that it is going to impact the economy. my question is how much of an m impact going to see earnings? are they going to get hit? >> that's the key to the whole thing. as we said, the beige book numbers, when they came out there were cent

. >> in today's "closing bell" exchange. carol roth author of "the entrepreneur equation" and steve saks and michael from janney montgomery smith. good to have you here. let me start with you, scott. what do you think about this move? are we going to get more of this? is this just the beginning, or are we in for pullbacks considering what could be coming to washington the next couple of months? >> i think pullbacks are norm a. let's face it, the last couple of months have been a big party. ben bernanke invited us and i don't think the punch bowl goes away. >> the fed is the key issue right now. does that trump the fundamentals, all the earnings we're getting, you pay more attention to the fed? >> you think we have low growth and quite frankly investors are starved for air. they have been holding their breath for four years. there is no oxygen in any other market. there's no place to go for yield. therefore, essentially i think ben is terroristing it to the point to where they got to jump into risk assets and that's what we're seeing. >> david, does that make you bullish as well? >> david

the internet, brought in by steve jobs in 2003 and given those generous stock options because back then that's what apple stock was trading at. 7 and change. not 700 and change. $7 and change. gore's obviously a patient man waiting so long. is he suddenly buying on dips? well, the options had to be exercised by this march. after ten years, and just in time he got some fast cash. as you mentioned, he netted a reported $100 million in the half billion dollar sale of current tv to al jazeera. "forbes" jokes, quote, i guess the check from al jazeera must have cleared and the man who was worth $2 million in 2000 is now worth $300 million, richer than myth romney but nowhere nearly as rich as michael bloomberg at 25 billion and he's only a mayor. maria and bill, back to you. >> he should have done it last year before the fiscal cliff when the taxes went up. >> actually al gore was pushing them to do the deal before the year closed because he wanted to get the 15% rather than 20. >> missed out. thank you, jane. >> back with the closing countdown. moving higher here. the dow is up 38. >>> it was a w

Excerpts 0 to 3 of about 4 results.